One thing that I consider a plot hole in the movies as well as what I know of the EU: Lightsabers being exclusive to Jedi (and Sith).
Lightsabers being used by seriously cool people,and young males being what they are, the galaxy must be awash with Taiwantooinian fake lightsabers. (of course building one’s lightsaber and learning to use it are important Jedi disciplines, but that’s no reason for wannabes not to skip the disciplines and go straight for the cool accessory).
I’m guessing that without the force, Lightsabers aren’t that useful, and any asshole with a blaster will kill you quickly.
Not to mention the fact a novice would probably be more likely to cut off their own hand/head/dick then then use it properly without instruction.
Ever notice how many accidental shootings happen when people are “cleaning their guns”? Imagine how many lightsaber accidents there are with kids trying to look cool.
General Greivous used lightsabers, and he wasn’t a Jedi. And there are plenty of examples of non-Jedi using them in the EU, especially in the RPGs and the old Marvel comics. According to other sources, it takes a certain level of force talent to construct one, so it’s not possible to make cheap knock-offs on a massive scale.
Nope that never happens. :smack: :eek: 
And don’t forget, Han Solo used one in Empire Strikes Back to make a Taun-Tent for Luke. In the novelization, there’s a bit where he’s thinking it’s probably some kind of sacrelidge to use a saber for that, but that he’s sure Luke will let it slide under the circumstances.
Heh, one of the Star Wars novels (granted, one of the ones written by Kevin J Anderson, so take this with a pound of salt) has C3P0 and Lando Calrisian trying to find a Force-sensitive fellow by looking at racetrack records to find out who tends to win lots of high-stakes races. Would seem that if you kept winning every big game you played, you’d begin to attract undue attention.
Well, in ANH, it DOES fly rings around them. In ESB, you’ll recall Han was very previously undergoing major repairs to the engines, so they’re probably not up to spec. Also, there’s Hyperspace Fast and then there’s Regular Fast.
Yeah, just running through the whole thread replying to stuff. When Han says that to Lando, it’s been six months minimum, probably longer, since the events in Empire Strikes Back. Since ESB, the Millenium Falcon has been in with the Rebel Fleet, where it might just have access to the kind of spare parts and mechanical assistance it would need to become the flying hotrod it was in Return of the Jedi.
Sorry, doesn’t work that way, older stuff gets kicked out for the newer stuff.
Heh, Timothy Zahn I’ll give you, but Kevin J. Anderson is responsible for such literary strokes of genius as the Sun Crusher, the bomber with God Mode permanently turned on, and Admiral Daala, the greatest Imperial tactician ever who failed to realize that the New Republic might respond quickly to their primary shipyards being attacked by an Imperial fleet. And let’s not forget Darksaber, the superweapon constructon project from Hell run by a race of hive-minded space weasels.
Read DarkSaber (heh), Jedi Academy Trilogy (heh), Courtship of Princess Leia (my first SW book, loved it), several of the X-Wing books (loved 'em, need to get back into that series), Planet of Twilight (IIRC, also heh), and the Ewoks Cartoon (loved i- I mean… heh.) I think that’s it, not counting the games and one of the X-Wing comics that came out for the Special Edition theatrical releases.
Speaking of plotholes: In the Jedi Academy trilogy, Kyp Durron (IIRC) uses the Sun Crusher (small, six-man ship with impenetrable armor) to fly through an Imperial Star Destroyer, destroying the ISD in the process, yet when the same Sun Crusher piloted by the same Kyp Durron is encountered by the same Imperial fleet that witnessed the first attack, the Imperials decide he’s no threat to them (resulting in the destruction of most of the fleet)
Who says the older stuff gets kicked out by the newer stuff? Not everyone needs to interpret all this the same way. It’s not like there’s some god telling us exactly how the Star Wars Universe is structured (certainly George Lucas can’t.) If you spent most of your late childhood writing your own Star Wars fiction, drawing your own comics, and obsessively snatching up every Star Wars RPG sourcebook at the bookstore just to learn more about the extended universe and its characters (like I did,) you’ll understand how irritating it is to have new material come along and “void” the old canon (like Boba Fett being the son of “Jango Fett,” instead of an exiled young police cadet from the planet of Concord Down who acquired Mandolorian armor and set out to become a bounty hunter) or the Stormtroopers “all being clones” (instead of being recruited from the Empire’s planets and trained at the Imperial Academy.) I like the old material better because the writing was more creative. That’s all. And since it came first, I think it kicks out the newer stuff, because the newer stuff sucks anyway.
KJ Anderson is truly awful at writing plots. And don’t forget, during his little Bacta War book, they went on about how all the Bacta came from this one planet. That would basically be like one guy in a backalley in Hong-Kong making all the bandages for the entire planet… in his off-hours. As a minor side-line.
Uhm, the last time I checked, LucasFilms says that, and since it’s their universe, yeah, they can say that (with George Lucas as the defacto Chancellor/Emporer/Grand High Poobah of aforementioned LucasFilms) There’s an actual thingy they have setup for determining what is canon (though, under that system, the Ewoks cartoon is Canon above everything short of the movies, so I guess the system has inherent flaws anyways)
shrug Doesn’t really matter, I suppose. DarkSaber was worth reading just because the idea of an entire race of hive-minded space-weasels was an amusing idea. Actually, DarkSaber just had a lot of little amusing points, like everybody in a control room leaping out of their chairs whenever something went wrong after they realized the boss bad guy had them wired up so he could electrocute people for making mistakes. (one of my all-time favorite EU moments, up there with Coran Horn’s posthumous message to Wedge Antilles in the first or second X-Wing book)
In reference to DarkSaber, it’s a shame that Crix Madine went out like a chump though.
You’re damn right the system has flaws. Besides, Lucasfilm isn’t to be trusted anymore since the latest films they’ve created have been so horrible.
Plothole?
Luke throws away his light saber, proceeds to get fried.
“Bennnnnnnn, why didn’t you tell me…you could block force lightning with a lightsaber?”
Heh. The only problem I have with any supposed holes in all 6 movies is the Leia remembering her real mother thing. I’ve made it work for me (sorta) by noting that baby Leia had her eyes open for a moment in ROTS, whereas Luke didn’t. So Leia “force remembered” her mother’s face, while Luke “force remembered” his mother’s dying words (“There’s still good in him.”) Shrug.
I liked one reviewer’s comment that Star Wars is the first “Global Myth” --a myth the entire world knows, regardless of culture. With that in mind, I have less problem with the dialog and minutia of plotting. A thousand years from now the whole thing will be translated into Esperanto or whatever and they’ll care about plot holes as much as we care about holes in the Greek myths.
BTW, try watching any of the prequels in one of the non-english languages on the DVD. Gives you a different perspective, especially if you don’t speak a word of that language (I prefer Spanish, the Yoda VO guy is hilarious). You still can understand the myth.
ComicGreekGuy: OMG!!! I CANNOT believe how they made Achilles go out like a little bitch!!!1 He gets shot in the ANKLE? WTF!!1! Homer is SUCH a fucking HACK! Worst! Myth! EVAR!!!111!!!
Heh, I rather liked them, so go figure. Jar Jar was a bit annoying, but not nearly so much as Anakin, and they helped both problems in the sequel by using Jar Jar less and letting Anakin go through puberty before we saw him again.
Just imagine how annoying he’d be if we had to deal with the character mid-adolescence, cracky voice and all.
… and yet I must nitpick. The Iliad never gets as far as Achilles’ death. Just had to say it.
Ah, you just haven’t read the “special edition” with new state-of-the-art poetic effects. Of course, the original was better. The “Patroclus shoots first” scene was just awful.